WWDC 2013 Preview: Where is Apple headed?

So it is that time of the year again, with Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference taking place this week. But what can we expect from Cupertino? We already know that they will unveil the new versions of iOS and OS X, and they are garnering more interest than in the past. The mobile operating system from Apple has evolved very little since their initial release and are facing pressure from investors and consumers alike to come up with something bright and new.

It is indeed an important time for Apple as they have not been performing at their stellar levels in the last 12 months. The stock price has fallen dramatically in recent months, and for good reason. iPhone sales aren’t growing as fast as it did in the past and the first half of this year lacked any kind of innovation or new product launch.

iOS 7

WWDC has been used for many years to show off the latest developments of the mobile platform. This year, though, the hype surrounding iOS is at all-time highs because of one man: John Ive. The former Apple hardware designer has taken over from Scott Forstall as the company’s software design and we have heard many rumours that the platform will receive a major overhaul.

Apparently we can expect a modern “flat” design with the abolishment of heavy textures seen in app and UI designs in the past. The different apps will have a more unified feel.

Because of Ive’s experience in designing things that are beautiful, most of the news we have received about iOS 7 are focused on the look and fell rather than the features or enhancements to apps. What we have heard is that the notifications might receive an Android-like widgets section, and widgets might now also become available on the home screen. This is a long requested feature and something that Android fanboys have been lauding over their Apple counterparts.

All these features are reportedly to take advantage of the iPhone 5’s taller screen, which points to the fact that the newest iteration of the phone will not receive a physical redesign (as was expected) and will more likely just be upgraded on the inside and be called the iPhone 5S, like we saw with the 4S after the iPhone 4.

OS X 10.9

We don’t know as much about the Mac OS yet, but we do expect it to be released before iOS 7. It will probably coincide with the release of new Mac hardware over the next couple of months. We have heard that iOS 7 is a bit behind schedule, which means that OS X might also be pushed back.

Hardware

In recent years, the only hardware being announced at WWDC is the Mac range of products. Apple has moved away from using this conference to unveil the latest versions of the iPhone and iPad, instead opting for a special event for these products.

We don’t expect the Macbook range to receive significant upgrades, but we have to note that the last time we saw a revamp for these products was back in June 2012. We will likely see the internals being upgraded, and the new Haswell processors from Intel is a natural evolution. According to Intel, the new chip creates the opportunity for better battery life and graphics coupled with the ability to build lighter and thinner devices, an attribute we know Apple loves.

Stay tuned over the next week as we bring the latest developments from WWDC 2013.